Scottie Scheffler takes giant leap toward FedExCup at TOUR Championship

ATLANTA (AP) — Scottie Scheffler started the TOUR Championship with a two-shot lead based on his dominant season. And then he looked dominant as ever Thursday, posting the best round at 6-under 65 to build a seven-shot lead and take a huge step toward the FedExCup title.

Scheffler had five birdies over his last seven holes on a sweltering afternoon at renovated East Lake to pull away from Xander Schauffele and everyone else.

He made birdie from the bunker on the par-5 18th hole with an 8-foot putt and took his spot in the PGA TOUR record book with an asterisk. No one has ever led by seven after 18 holes as far back as the TOUR keeps such records.

The asterisk is because he was only one shot better than Collin Morikawa and four others who each had a 66.

This is the sixth year of the FedExCup Starting Strokes format at the Playoffs finale. Scheffler was the No. 1 seed based on his six PGA TOUR victories, which include the Masters and THE PLAYERS Championship. He started the tournament at 10-under par and with a two-shot lead over Xander Schauffele, the double major winner and No. 2 seed.

This is the third straight year Scheffler has started with the lead. He has yet to win the FedExCup and its $25 million bonus. And by the sound of it, that wasn't on his mind.

“I wasn’t thinking about the lead out there today. There’s no reason to. It’s the first day of the tournament. It’s 72 holes. It’s a long time out there to be playing with a lead,” Scheffler said. “I was just focused on staying in my own world and continuing to just try to execute.”

He got a quick reminder that a two-shot lead on Thursday — or even on a Sunday — is nothing to celebrate. Schauffele made up that deficit on the opening hole with an 8-foot birdie, while Scheffler made his lone bogey by having to play short of the green from behind a tree.

Scheffler, on the strength of a 35-foot birdie putt at No. 7, led by one when they made the turn and then left his fellow Olympic gold medalist in the dust.

Schauffele missed an 8-foot birdie chance at No. 10 and a 5-foot par putt on No. 11. Scheffler made birdie on the next three holes as Schauffele couldn't find a fairway, which led to him not having any reasonable birdie chances.

“I think I scored OK actually for how bad I hit it,” said Schauffele, who headed for the range when his round was over. “Overall it was kind of a ‘meh’ day. Wasn't something I was proud of or disgusted by.”

The difference between golf's best two players this year was clear — Scheffler was able to control his distance from the fairway, Schauffele was guessing on shots out of the rough.

“Scottie was almost in every fairway, it looked like,” Schauffele said. “It looked like he was going through wedge practice while he was out there.”

Indeed, Scheffler missed only two greens and putted for birdie or better on his last 14 holes. The world's No. 1 player poured it on at the end, and with the head start, he was 16-under par.

But this chase for the $25 million bonus is far from over, and Scheffler is proof of that. He was the top seed and led by five shots after the first round of the 2022 TOUR Championship. That also was the year he took a six-shot lead into the final round and lost to Rory McIlroy.

Only one other top seed led after the first day since this format began in 2019. That was Patrick Cantlay, who led by two and went on to win the FedExCup by one shot.

Morikawa has a history of great starts. He made up a nine-shot deficit in one round last year with a 61. On this day, he ran off six straight birdies on the back nine, and his 66 will put him in the final group with Scheffler on Friday.

Morikawa and Schauffele (70) were at 9-under par. Another shot back was a large group that included Adam Scott (66), Hideki Matsuyama (70) and Keegan Bradley, who went from No. 50 to No. 4 by winning the BMW Championship last week.

Scoring was not terribly low on the new-look East Lake, with its heavily contoured greens, closely mown areas instead of thick rough and the absence of trees. But then, only one player was over par — Billy Horschel at 73.

Schauffele at least extended his astonishing streak at East Lake even with the redesign. He lost a lot of ground on the back nine, but his 70 was the 26th time in 29 rounds that he was under par. He has never shot over par.

That wasn't good enough to keep pace with Scheffler.